A Light in the Darkness
by let.the.cards.fall
Summary: Christina lives with her grumpy, old uncle, until one day she recieves an invitation for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But dark magic is in the air. Someone is planning to take down Hogwarts, and all of the young wizards and witches in it. Can Christina save herself and her friends?
1. Chapter 1

"Christina! Get down here!"

And there's the wake up call.

"Coming!" I yelled back.

I had slept in my clothes. There was no need to change. I knew David would wake me sometime around five. It was 4:30.

That night I had been reading the book my mother had left me. It was full of nonsense: wands, invisibility cloaks, and owls that deliver the post. At three I decided to put the book away.

I sprinted down the stairs. _Same old, same old,_ I thought. No father in sight.

The day my mother died, dad left me at my grandpa's house. My grandfather was a grumpy man. He made me clean his entire house. Eventually he got a hold on me and now I am his 'personal servant.'

"Breakfast!" David demanded.

"Coming," I said as I rushed into the kitchen.

David lived alone so I didn't have to worry about the noise. He was half deaf anyway.

"I'm going back to sleep," he said. That was a first. Usually he was up for good in the mornings.

"I'll have it ready, sir," I said, a fake smile plastered over my face.

He stumbled back into his room. I didn't tell him that drool was dripping from his mouth. I smiled a secret smile.

David woke a few hours later, more grumpy that this morning. Breakfast was already on the table. I got the scraps.

"Go on then! Go to school!" David demanded.

"It's summer," I said, a little too matter-of-factly.

"Don't you use that tongue with me, young lady!" David yelled, "Get up to your room!"

The young lady card. Oldest trick in the book. I 'hung my head' and walked upstairs, proud I had irritated him this late in the morning.

As soon as David left for work, I threw on sneakers and dashed out of the house. I breathed in the fresh, California ocean air, and sighed. I wish mom could see me now.

I ran across the street to a quaint little house, it's body painted pink and it's trim painted yellow.

"Owen? Get out here!" I yelled into the house.

Owen, my best and only friend, lived with his grandmother. In the past, we'd joked about setting David and Bertha, his grandmother, on a blind date. Maybe then they'd be happier.

"Happy birthday, Chris!" he said.

"Thanks," I said with a small smile.

We walked down to the beach. That day, the waves were small. We enjoyed the beach for a few hours.

"I have to go," I said hurriedly. I had lost track of time and David would be home in fifteen minutes.

"Okay," Owen said.

I ran home. I was afraid David would be furious if I was late. But as I ran, and owl of all things flew out of the sky and dropped a letter in my hand. An. owl just like the one in mother's journal. I frowned curiously and furrowed my brow. I decided to open the letter later. I sprinted back to the house, eager to get to my room and open it.

"Where have you been?" David snapped as I walked inside.

I stood there like an idiot, frozen in place, terrified of a 63 year old. I didn't know how to answer him.

"I-i-it is my birthday, a-a-and I thought I could go down to the beach, and I never get to go down there-" I stuttered as I braced myself for impact.

"You listen to me-" he started.

"No! You listen to me! It's my birthday! I don't want to be your slave anymore!" I screamed at him as I stormed upstairs.

As I reached my room, he was on my heels. I slammed the door in his face. He locked it from the outside.

"Don't you dare go downstairs for two weeks! You hear?"

I said nothing and nodded, even though he couldn't see me.

I only knew it was safe to open the letter when I heard his footsteps disappear. I started with the outside of the envelope. It read:

Christina Valerenti

242 Bay View Dr.

The broom closet upstairs

Huntington, California

At first I was confused, but then amazed. How did the sender of this know where exactly to find me? I was kid of creeped out. The seal on the envelope was some kind of crest. That just made me even more confused. I took out the letter. This is what it said:

 **Dear Miss. Valerenti,**

 **You have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry located in London,England. Attached to this letter is a Knight Bus ticket and a list of supplies you will have to buy from Diagon Alley. The Knight Bus will pick you up tonight at precisely 10:42 P.M. west coast time. Hogwarts is located in England, so your grandfather must be okay with you taking a "short vacation" for the duration of the year. We will provide new clothes, hospitality, and wizarding coins for you to buy your books in Diagon Alley. The** **Hogwarts gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, will pick you up on the bus and explain everything. This is an incredible opportunity. Take it!**

 **So long for now,**

Minerva Mcgonagall

 **P.S. Snap your fingers to unlock the door.**

Yes! An escape! And it sounded pretty cool. I had some sort of magic powers. But who was Hagrid and Professor Mcgonagall? I guess I would get the full explanation tonight.

The hours dragged on as I packed what little I had into my backpack. And stuffed in the broom closet, that wasn't easy. I checked my watch. _Lucky for me I know his schedule,_ I thought. David would be sleeping in a few minutes.

My watch beeped signaling 10:40. I had to go. All of the lights were turned off downstairs. I could hear David snoring. I covered my mouth to stifle a laugh.

I had escaped the house lots of times. However, David always caught me. I got out to go be homeschooled for a year, but he found me eventually.

I quietly snapped my fingers. The door swung open without a sound. I crept down the creaky stairs and out the front door. My watch read 10:42.

Suddenly, a purple bus with loud music and lights pulled up in front of me. The doors swung open.

"Knight Bus, North American Route!" the driver yelled.

"What do you think you're doing? He's gonna wake up!" I said through gritted teeth.

"Relax, kid. Only wizards like us can hear and see this," he said. He had a thick New York accent.

He beckoned for me to come onboard. I hopped up the steps and ducked inside.

The bus seemed to stretch on for miles. There were beds lining the sides and places to safely store your bag. I laid down in one of the beds. I noticed that there were straps. I furrowed my brow.

All of the sudden, the bus driver hit the gas, and I was flung to the back of the bus. He immediately slowed down when he heard the thud of my body against the glass.

"Sorry. I forgot to ask if you were strapped in," he said, climbing out of his seat.

"Strap in where? And where is Hagrid?"

At that very moment, a large, bulky figure stepped out of the back of the bus. He had long, shaggy, unbrushed hair, and a thick, tangled beard.

"Strapped to the beds, of course!" he said heartily.

I laid down on one of the beds, and he pulled the straps over me, pulling the cinch tighter than I would have expected. I still felt gravity pull me to the back of the bus as we sped off into the night.

 **First Harry Potter book! Super excited about this one. I am a huge Harry Potter fan at heart! ENJOY!**


	2. Chapter 2

On the bus ride to London, Hagrid explained all about what Hogwarts was and how it got started. I figured out who the professors were, and how to get from class to class. Hagrid knew Hogwarts like the back of his hand.

The bus didn't take long. We were in London in minutes. I looked around at the cars speeding by us, or was it us speeding by them? I couldn't tell.

We arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, a hotel Hagrid had told me about. He helped me check into my room.

"See you in the morning for some shopping," he told me as he walked out the door.

* * *

I could hardly sleep that night. So many questions were crammed into my head. Where the heck even was the dang school? Why did I have powers and David didn't? How come I wasn't told I was a wizard in the first place? Unfortunately, sleep gave me no answers.

I felt someone's long, large arms grab me and shake me. I opened my eyes to see Hagrid shaking me awake.

The sun shone brightly through the thin, white curtains. I looked over to where I put my bag down last night and saw a large trunk with my name at the bottom in gold letters. The Hogwarts crest Hagrid had shown me last night was just above my name.

"Okay! Okay! I'm up! I'm up!" I said sluggishly. I noticed I had slept in my clothes.

With a wave of his umbrella, Hagrid fixed my hair. I licked my teeth to taste mint toothpaste.

"How did you-" I started.

"No time for explanations," Hagrid said, interrupting me, "We're on a tight schedule."

He took me through the Leaky Cauldron and out the back door. We stood facing a brick wall. Hagrid tapped it fast four times. The wall began to shift backward and form an arch. I watched in awe as each brick came alive as if the cement had disappeared. And beyond the arch was another wonder.

There were shops selling robes, shops selling wands, and strange bronze instruments I didn't even recognize. There were windows stacked with bat spleens and fish eyes, teetering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of paper. There were potions bottles, globes of the moon, and broomsticks used for flying. I stared in awe at everything this mysterious alley had to offer.

"Welcome, Christina, to Diagon Alley," Hagrid said.

Hagrid started at a quick pace, but I slowed down. It was a lot to take in. The afternoon sun shone on the buildings, making me squint.

"So, where are we off to first?" I asked, "The Apothecary, Eeylop's Owl Emporium?" I struggled to pronounce the names.

"How about Ollivanders," Hagrid said. I looked around at all of the shops, and my eyes finally caught a building titled, "Ollivanders." I noticed beneath the sign it said, "Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."

Wands.

Hagrid led me toward the building. I stopped at the front door, nervous and afraid. All of this was so new to me. Hagrid let out a hearty laugh and pushed me gently inside.

Before me stood stacks and stacks of wands. There were wands jammed in cabinets, wands between the stairs, and a wand in the chandelier. There was a hallway that had wands stacked to the ceiling on both sides. My eyes finally found an old man, his back turned to me. After a while, I cleared my throat, and he almost "snapped out" of his trance. He was unusually young, but his face made him look older than he was. A smile crept over his face as he studied me.

"Hello," I said nervously. He approached me with a puzzled look.

"An American?" he questioned, almost to himself.

"Yes."

"N-No matter," he said. I could hear in his tone that he was unsure of himself.

He gripped my hand in his and closed his half-moon eyes. He stayed there until the awkwardness was almost unbearable. Then he turned around and began rummaging through the shelves. I could hear little thing over the clatter of the wands: "No not that," or "hmm, difficult," and "Definitely not!"

Ollivander came over to me with a box.

"Oak, unicorn hair, 8 inches. A bit heavy but very firm. Best for charms," he said to me as if he was introducing an old friend.

I took the box slowly from him, and opened it. I took the wand out, unsure of what to do. I tried to look over my shoulder and find Hagrid, but he wasn't there.

"Go on, now. Give it a whirl," he said. I could sense the impatience in his voice. I gave him the most confused look I could muster.

He showed me a gesture with his own wand, muttering all the while, "So much to learn, so much to learn."

I watched Ollivander and finally stopped him, telling him that I'd seen enough. I studied the wand for just a moment, and noticed intricate flame carvings on the wood. I waved the wand in a circular pattern, just as he had done. A beam of light went shooting across the room, breaking what looked like a very expensive vase.

"No! No! Not that one," he said, taking my wand.

He went back to rummaging through the cabinets.

"Aha!" he said triumphantly.

"12 inches, linden wood, hippogriff feather for the core. It's quite flexible, watch out!" He said. He sounded like a child, giddy.

I did the same gesture, and flames spouted out. They bounced across the room as if they were alive. Ollivander grabbed the wand out of my hand. I noticed that I was gripping the wand very tightly. He swished the wand and all of the flames flew back into the wand. He sighed and slumped over on the counter.

"Not that one either," he wheezed.

Suddenly, he turned around, almost as if he was possessed. He grabbed a dusty box off the wall.

"Unless," he breathed.

"What's going on?" I asked him with a questioning look.

He didn't reply, just opened the box and admired the wand with a questionable amount of insanity.

"This wand," he took a deep breath before continuing, "this wand is the partner wand of Gellert Grindelwald. It holds great power, yet great danger if abused."

He carefully handed me the wand and said, "12 inches, elm wood, phoenix feather core."

The moment I took the wand in my hand, the room began to glow around me. I did the same gesture, and all of the lights in the room turned on, and all of the books were dusted off.

"No one must know of the partnership. No one," Ollivander said under his breath.

And with that I swiftly paid him and stepped out the door.

* * *

Hagrid and I visited more shops. As we walked to get me fitted for my robes, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

"I'll be right back," I told Hagrid without looking at him.

"Wait-" Hagrid called, but I was already out of sight thanks to the dense crowd.

I followed the man in the black hood I had seen through the crowd. He was easy to follow-he was almost as tall as Hagrid.

He went down walkways that gradually got darker. He wound quickly around corners. He finally descended the last staircase, where a woman dressed in black stood waiting for him. I hid behind the wall and listened to fragments of their conversation:

"...I know, I know! But Grindel-" the girl said.

"Shh! You must never speak his name in public!" the man snapped.

"Alright! But the girl...so interesting isn't it?"

"Yes, one from overseas-"

My heart dropped.

"There is something that you must know about-" the man said.

Suddenly a dark shadow fell over me, I whipped around to find Hagrid holding me by the collar.

"Now, what're ye doin around here?" he said.

"But-" I said, glancing back.

Hagrid tugged me along.

"That was Knockturn Alley back there!" Hagrid whisper-yelled under his breath.

"They were saying things about Gri-"

"Shh!" Hagrid shushed me abruptly, "Never speak his name!"

And with that, we left Diagon Alley.

"Alright!" Hagrid said heartily, "Here's ye ticket for the train. Remember, it leaves at 11:00."

I read the information on the ticket aloud, "The hogwarts Express. Leaves at 11:00...platform 9 ¾? Hagrid, there's no such thing as platform 9 and 3..."

But Hagrid had disappeared.


End file.
